Twelfth Night

Listen and NotesRead The Text Cast and CrewBiographies

Click on the Act Titles to Listen and Here or the Read the Text tab to read along.

This comedy shows fools in love and the kind of folly we may commit in romantic attractions. Feste is a chorus to this comedy of lovers; he comments wittily to lovers about their amorous excesses, not that they listen to him. A beggar, he cadges money from them. Orsino & Viola/Cesario, Olivia & Sebastian, Toby & Maria, even the losers in love, Malvolio & Andrew are possessed by love’s madness.

Many scholars have speculated where Illyria might be. Two references in the text to Persia suggested that exotic place in 1601 where four Elizabethans might be shipwrecked. Why not? Love’s folly is universal, after all. – Edgar Reynolds, Director

Act I: In which a cross-dressing twin decides to woo the fair Olivia in the name of her employer, Count Orsino, and does her job all too well.

Act II: In which plots are laid against an arrogant steward, and all lovers become increasingly confused.

Act III: In which the aforementioned plot causes the steward to act like a foolish lunatic, a drunkard tricks a fop into dueling the cross-dressing twin, and the survival of yet another twin causes ever more confusion.

Act IV: In which the steward is locked and tormented in a madhouse, and Olivia bound in marriage to the male twin.

Special Thanks:

Sam Mowry of the Willamette Radio Workshop

Lewis and Clark College Department of Theatre

Actors Courtesy of Portland Area Theatre Alliance auditions

Greg Alexander (Sir Andrews) – recently arrived in Portland, Greg played Alonso in The Tempest, Flute in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mortimer in Henry IV in Coos Bay. He recently did several roles in radio plays for Willamette Radio Workshop.

Allison Anderson (Olivia) – is a grad of Lewis and Clark College, now working at Intel. She did many roles in Tygres Heart Shakespeare plays, among them Ophelia, Adriana, Joan of Arc, Portia, Lady Anne, Blanche, Margaret, and Phoebe over that company’s ten year run from 1991.

Brian Bartley (Malvolio) – is new to Portland. He played Cliff in Cabaret on a German tour, Algernon in Importance of Being Earnest and Guildenstern in Hamlet in NYC. He is a grad of Linfield College and the American Musical & Dramatic Academy.

Arron Farrar (Sebastian) – from Maine played Cinna in Julius Ceasar for NW Classical. New York credits include Auto/Delete for New Dramatists and Lands End for the New York Theatre Workshop. He recently married Carrie, the love of his life.

Garland Lyons (Orsino) – in the last four years in Portland, he has played roles at NW Children’s Theatre, Stark Raving Theatre, Profile Theatre Project, and Quintessence Theatre. He may be seen in Actors To Go for ART. Garland holds two bachelor degrees from the University of Washington.

Atticus Mowry (Curio) – was Foley (sound) artist for Sundays by the Philco at Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre. He worked with the Willamette Radio Workshop since their Dracula production; he has acted and provided Foley for six of their productions. Curio is his first role with Northwest Classical Theatre.

Chris Porter (Sir Toby) – played many roles for Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company, among them Don Armado in Love’s Labours Lost. He is a founding member of the Willamette Radio Workshop (www.radiowork.com) where his extensive bio can be found.

Barney Stein (Feste) – settled in Portland from New York and LA. His last role was the lead in The Beams Are Creaking at West End Theatre. A gifted singer-dancer-musician, he played piano for Gifts of the Magi at Broadway Rose. In New York he played in Hair; in LA he was Jesus in JC Superstar, and he danced in the movie The Age of Innocence. He has a Masters in Dance from Stanford.

Ithica Tell (Maria) – a grad of Southern Oregon U in Theatre, she was the Mother in a film, Bridge City Women, and a Juror on TV’s We The Jury. She has acted locally for ART, NW Children’s Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Sojourn Theatre, HART, and she understudied two roles for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Grant Turner (Antonio) – a confessed Shakespeare nut, is Artistic Director of NW Classical Theatre and has played Petruchio, Hamlet, Macbeth, Marc Antony, and York, among other roles. He produces the annual Shakespeare tribute on April 23.

Bibi Walton (Fabia) – played an impressive Cardinal in NWCT’s Henry IV, Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure, Mistress Quickly in Merry Wives of Windsor, and she has acted in several movies.